Help protect vulnerable children in the margins

Our impact to help children trapped by violence, war, child labor, and trafficking

Millions of children are in danger. Abused, abandoned, and orphaned. Trafficked and enslaved. Caught in wars and disasters. Sickened by hunger and dirty water. Forced to find shelter in refugee camps, the streets, or city dumps. These children live in the most broken places of our world, places where many others cannot or will not go. The following accomplishments represent how we helped them in 2014:

31,469

vulnerable children enrolled in school

Thanks to World Vision U.S. donors.

8,454

people equipped to recognize, report, and respond to abuse, exploitation, and violence against children

Thanks to U.S. Department of Labor grants to address child labor.

15,626

vulnerable children and survivors of abuse, exploitation, and violence received critical support such as counseling, shelter, or help reintegrating into family and community life

Thanks to World Vision U.S. donors.

Evaluations and Evidence

Women, men, and children in Ormoc City, Philippines, were left vulnerable to trafficking in persons in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013. World Vision ran the USAID-funded Preventing Trafficking in Persons through Sustainable Livelihood Recovery project to support vulnerable typhoon survivors and reduce their risk of being trafficked by integrating anti-trafficking messages into livelihoods trainings.

While learning efficient and sustainable farming methods to restore and diversify their crops and proper care and feeding of provided livestock, they also learned about trafficking and who to contact should they suspect a case.

Results from the project include:

People who indicated they would not send a family member away for employment increased from 45 percent to 92 percent

Survivors who were able to demonstrate an understanding of trafficking in persons increased from 53 percent to 81 percent

44 percent of project households increased their monthly income by 25 percent or more in one year

94 percent of project households are now able to meet their top three expenses (food, housing, education)

World Vision is currently implementing the Ethiopians Fighting Against Child Exploitation (E-FACE) project, funded by the United States Department of Labor (USDOL), to provide support to the country in addressing child labor. The primary focus centers on education aimed at sustainably reducing the number of children aged 5-17 years old engaged in and at risk of child labor in the weaving, agricultural, and other sectors in the target areas.

E-FACE’s external mid-term evaluation in December 2013 found that one of the project’s strongest areas is its coordination with government and community structures. The project contributed to the adoption of the National Action Plan to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor. In addition, the education initiatives are very effective with reported substantial increases in attendance, including children who are not direct beneficiaries of the project, but whose families have enrolled them due to the improved education conditions.

Our Approach

+ What does child protection mean?

World Vision defines child protection as all efforts to prevent and respond to abuse, neglect, exploitation, and other forms of violence against children — especially the most vulnerable.

World Vision seeks to create a protective environment around children, such that they not only survive but thrive in their communities. World Vision’s programs strive to ensure that physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs of the most vulnerable children are met within caring and protective families and communities — focusing on activities that prevent them from falling into crisis or harmful situations; protect those who are in immediate danger through responsive care and improved capacity of service providers to respond; and restore child survivors of abuse, exploitation, or violence through appropriate community-based care.

+ How does World Vision help children outside of parental care?

World Vision prioritizes the well-being of the world’s most vulnerable children, including those outside of parental care who have been deprived of the protection and guidance normally given by their parents as primary caregivers and duty-bearers, leaving them vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

We value the family as the primary social unit and affirm its role as the primary actor responsible for the care and protection of children. Children grow and thrive best in a family-based environment, not in institutional care, the detrimental impacts of which are now widely recognized.

World Vision responds to children outside of parental care by strengthening families to care for and protect children, reducing risk of separation from their immediate and extended family, strengthening systems that provide alternative community-based options to institutionalization, and supporting transition and de-institutionalization processes. Our primary focus is to strengthen systems that allow the child to remain with family members. If remaining with the family is not in the best interest of the child, World Vision supports the family, community, and local authorities to find community-based solutions.

+ How do you prevent crimes like child slavery and child sex trafficking?

World Vision works in partnership with local hospitals, schools, community leaders, faith communities, and law enforcement agencies to ensure that child protection is a priority. We encourage community stakeholders to raise awareness and advocate for child rights and protection, to speak out against harmful attitudes and practices, and to identify and respond to abuse and exploitation when they encounter it.

World Vision focuses on the most vulnerable — children separated from family care, who live or work on the street, who are affected by disaster or conflict, who are not in school — and provides targeted education for these children on what trafficking is and recruitment techniques that traffickers use. By providing vulnerable children with access to quality education and supporting families to meet children’s immediate needs, such as food and housing, we are making a significant contribution toward preventing child slavery and trafficking.

+ How do you actively protect children in need?

World Vision protects children by looking out for their well-being: ensuring that communities are actively working to identify and support children in need; advocating for children’s rights; and providing for immediate needs, such as emergency shelter and essential care.

Advocating for the rights of children is an important part of our work, both in the communities where we work, and on a national level here in the United States to influence legislation that protects vulnerable children. Our work with the most vulnerable in communities where child abuse and exploitation are prevalent informs national advocacy both at home and abroad to improve upon systems for child protection.

+ What do you do to help children recover from abuse or exploitation?

Children who have been abused or exploited need time and care in order to recover. World Vision works to restore and reunite children with their families and communities when possible and appropriate. But we start by helping children who’ve been exploited to heal through medical, legal, and psychosocial services, providing life and livelihood skills and education opportunities. Often, this means providing a safe place for children to go while offering counseling and recovery activities.